Tuesday, December 26, 2017

Marc Acrenaz, scientific director at HUTAN, a Sabah-based non-gov wildlife research and conservation organization says there appears to be an increase # of cases involving killing and poaching of endangered animals due to human-animal conflict, underground international illegal wildlife trade compounded w/a booming tourism driving demand for exotic meat, ivory... IT MUST END.

There's not enough rangers on ground to cover where critically endangered species (pygmy elephant, orangutan, pangolin) roam and there are no investigators specifically trained w/animal-hunting to follow up on the cases. "We have the government trying their best to preserve more forests and conserve animal species but what good is a forest without animals" says Acrenaz.

The three main reasons for poaching and killing were conflicts between landowners and animals (elephants), poaching of bush meat because of tourist demand as the tourism industry in Sabah was booming and the underground international trade for exotic meat or ivory.

“We want to be able to have our unique animals and biodiversity for as long as possible and this would not be possible if we are not able to stop the killing of our animals,” Acrenaz said.

Read more at https://www.thestar.com.my/metro/metro-news/2017/12/14/need-investigators-to-end-killing-of-endangered-species/#t2AiJ1K8iuF1LWGt.99

Wednesday, December 20, 2017

An average of 20 tonnes of pangolins and their parts have been trafficked internationally every year with smugglers using 27 new global trade routes annually, according to new research released today by TRAFFIC and IUCN.

The report was released in the wake of the world’s largest ever pangolin seizure, when China announced the seizure of 11.9 tonnes of scales from a ship in Shenzen last month.

Sunday, December 17, 2017

The governments of Japan and the United States are plowing ahead with construction of a new air base in Japan's Henoko Bay, threatening to destroy the last refuge of the critically endangered Okinawa dugong.

And it's not just dugongs that are in harm's way: Okinawa's coral reefs support an entire world of rare, fascinating and little-known creatures -- and tragically more than half of these reefs have already disappeared due to global warming and pollution.

Eighty percent of the Okinawan people, including their governor, oppose the base. American, Japanese and international organizations have spoken out against it. And both the U.S. Marine Mammals Commission and the World Conservation Union have confirmed that the base is a serious threat to dugongs, which are entitled to protections under the U.S. Endangered Species Act.

Construction of the offshore facility will also deplete essential freshwater supplies, increase the human population in sensitive areas, and encourage more harmful development.

The proposed House budget lifts a decades-old ban on the brutal slaughter of wild horses and burros. But there is still hope: thousands of you spoke up, and a Senate committee has just blocked the killing in their budget version. Now, the majestic animals' fate depends on final budget negotiations between House and Senate. For nearly 30 years, wild horses and burros have been protected by law. But now, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) wants to change that, and control their population by killing the animals or sending them to cruel slaughterhouses in Mexico and Canada.Instead of killing America's horses, they should enact cruelty free population control efforts, like reducing births. We must not let them resort to bloodshed. We cannot let the slaughter go on!

Thursday, November 30, 2017

Australia: save the koalas’ forest! - Rainforest Rescue Australia’s koalas need help: the recent loosening of environmental laws has led to a surge in land clearing and habitat destruction. The state of Queensland does not even require permits in many cases. The rampant deforestation needs to stop NOW.

In Queensland, a state in northeastern Australia, land clearing is at a ten-year high. Habitat loss is threatening a dozen plant and nearly one hundred animal species, including Australia’s iconic koala and the cassowary – a large, flightless bird. Koala #'s have plummeted from an est 100,000 to 40,000 in only five years. Once at home in lush forests, many now have to cope with scattered patches of woodland and suburban sprawl. To change trees in sparsely wooded areas, koalas are forced to come down to the ground – where they are vulnerable to attack by dogs or meet their end as roadkill.

Monday, November 27, 2017

NRA Wants To Ensure Grizzly Bear Hunting OK Near Yellowstone | Across Montana, MT Patch "They need to be hunted so that they fear the scent of humans, rather than following it as they do now," said Montana hunter Edwin Johnson. NOTE: The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service revoked the threatened status for grizzly bears in July ... Conservation groups have sued to restore the federal protections, and the NRA and Safari Club have asked U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen to allow them to intervene in the case.

- just another horrifying perk to the trump administration & why they have been so busy piling up corrupted & grossly unqualified pics for the federal courts - these judges will have wide scale, long term negative consequences for generations to come, their decisions affecting both people & planet... economic equality, human rights, civil rights, women's rights, consumer protections, environmental justice issues, nonhuman rights (animal rights) & the (systematic elimination) of protections for wildlife including endangered species, not only here domestically but globally as proven with the recent reversal of Obama's exec order (elephant, lion trophy importation ban).

NRA Wants To Ensure Grizzly Bear Hunting OK Near Yellowstone | Across Montana, MT Patch "They need to be hunted so that they fear the scent of humans, rather than following it as they do now," said Montana hunter Edwin Johnson. NOTE: The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service revoked the threatened status for grizzly bears in July ... Conservation groups have sued to restore the federal protections, and the NRA and Safari Club have asked U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen to allow them to intervene in the case.

- just another horrifying perk to the trump administration & why they have been so busy piling up corrupted & grossly unqualified pics for the federal courts - these judges will have wide scale, long term negative consequences for generations to come, their decisions affecting both people & planet... economic equality, human rights, civil rights, women's rights, consumer protections, environmental justice issues, nonhuman rights (animal rights) & the (systematic elimination) of protections for wildlife including endangered species, not only here domestically but globally as proven with the recent reversal of Obama's exec order (elephant, lion trophy importation ban).

The Endangered Species Act Is Endangered
The Trump administration and the Republican party are placing corporate interests over species survival. As powerful climate deniers threaten to destroy even the most basic environmental protections, the Endangered Species Act is also under attack, thanks to a series of proposed bills in the House of Representatives.

Sunday, November 26, 2017

Blow the lid - The Wilderness Society - Deforestation is Australia’s biggest unseen environmental issue. Currently in Queensland alone, one animal is killed every second. That’s 68 million in the last two years.

“The majority of koalas will never receive treatment. Their bodies will be broken and churned up with chopped vegetation, get piled up into big rows and then burnt or chipped.” Dr. Jon Hanger who sees the devastating effects of deforestation every day describes it as “Australia’s most serious animal welfare issue that is not being addressed.”

The U.S. House of Representatives is expected to vote soon on legislation that would strip important protections for manatees and other marine mammals from the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) and Endangered Species Act (ESA). The bill, H.R. 4239, called the “Strengthening the Economy with Critical Untapped Resources to Expand American Energy” or “SECURE” Energy Act, is a giveaway to the fossil fuel industry to the detriment of important habitat and species protections.

omg, the SHAME! this is our fault America, we have opened the hellmouth, unleashing the terror and cruelty spewing out from these fucking sociopathic, animal serial killing monsters (nothing short of terrorists) onto both people and planet, literally dooming life on Earth to suffer (those not included in the 1% club... for the time being anyway as climate and social chaos will reach every living being eventually). So if you care about women's rights, children's rights, economic justice, social justice the health of our environment, nonhuman rights or just stability both domestic and global, you must become engaged and fight against this unethical onslaught, rotting at the moral core of our society because no matter who you are, no matter what you look like, what your beliefs are, the things going on here is going to affect us all and must be stopped.

Wednesday, November 15, 2017

At The Sanctuary, Nosey has been given the opportunity to explore her new surroundings at her own pace. Over the past several days, Staff have observed her forage leaves and pine branches and discover how to drink from an automatic waterer whenever she likes.

Friday, October 27, 2017

Among the data missing from the 2016 report is information on arrests, the circumstances of homicides (such as the relationships between victims and perpetrators), and the only national estimate of annual gang murders.

The data missing from the report is mostly about arrests and homicides. There were 51 tables of arrest data in the 2015 report, and there are only seven2These counts include five numbered tables that were made up of three subtables labeled A, B and C.
in the 2016 report.
Data about clearance rates — essentially the percentage of crimes solved — was covered in four tables in 2015 but just one in 2016. The expanded offense data — information collected by the FBI beyond the number of crimes committed, such as the type of weapon used or the location of a crimes — went from 23 tables in 2015 to 6 in 2016.

Note: The reward offer. This notice had accidentally said Sabah was in the Philippines (this is in Borneo), but a later advisory corrected the mistake.

Question: So how come the Sabah Wildlife Department did not offer any rewards???

The Sea Shepherd, an international non-profit, marine wildlife conservation organization, angered by the recent deaths of endangered green turtles in Sabah’s east coast islands, have put up an RM21,000 reward to bring the killers to book.

The offer of the US 5,000 reward was put up by Captain Paul Watson, the man behind Sea Shepherd, whose mission is to end the destruction of habitat and slaughter of wildlife in the world’s oceans in order to conserve and protect ecosystems and species.

“Please contact the Sabah Wildlife Department with information and/or evidence,” he wrote. “It seems that the poachers are now too impatient to steal the eggs after they are laid; they are now resorting to excessive butchery to steal the eggs from their mothers. “There is no excuse for such savagery. These monsters need to be punished.”

Established in 1977, the animal and environmental warriors (my opinion) at Sea Shepherd investigate, documents, and take action when necessary to expose and confront illegal activities on the high seas. By safeguarding the biodiversity of our delicately-balanced ocean ecosystems, Sea Shepherd works to ensure their survival for future generations. Captain Watson has been described as the “world’s most aggressive, most determined, most active and most effective defender of wildlife.” (a true hero)

The killing fields; shocking discovery of bone fragments and shells of an estimated 100 turtles allegedly killed by Pa’lau people -- How long will Sabah authorities allow the wanton killing of our endangered wildlife and say “we are still investigating”. Even foreigners know the value of Sabah’s wildlife; we don’t seem to understand that.

Friday, September 15, 2017

Investigation Links Chocolate to Destruction of National Parks - MightyCocoa production in Ivory Coast and Ghana responsible for the loss of extensive forested areas, endangered chimpanzee and elephant habitatWASHINGTON D.C.– A new investigation by Mighty Earth, “Chocolate’s Dark Secret,” finds that a large amount of the cocoa used in chocolate produced by Mars,Nestle, Hershey’s, Godiva, and other major chocolate companies was grown illegally in national parks and other protected areas in Ivory Coast and Ghana. The countries are the world’s two largest cocoa producers.The report documents how in several national parks and other protected areas, 90% or more of the land mass has been converted to cocoa. Less than four percent of Ivory Coast remains densely forested, and the chocolate companies’ laissez-faire approach to sourcing has driven extensive deforestation in Ghana as well. In Ivory Coast, deforestation has pushed chimpanzees into just a few small pockets, and reduced the country’s elephant population from several hundred thousand to about 200-400.

About half of the world cocoa market is controlled by just three companies: Cargill, Olam, and Barry Callebaut. The investigation traced how cocoa makes its way from growers in national parks, through middlemen, to these traders, who then sell it onto Europe and the United States where the world’s largest chocolate companies make it into truffles, bars, syrups, and myriad other chocolate treats.

“The extent to which big chocolate brands like Mars are linked to destruction of national parks and protected areas is shocking,” said Etelle Higonnet, Mighty Earth Campaign and Legal Director. “These companies need to take immediate action to end deforestation once and for all, and remediate past damage.”

The Sportsmen’s Heritage and Recreational Enhancement (SHARE) Act Would Gut the Wilderness Act and Public Lands Protections! EVERY unit of the National Wilderness Preservation System threatened.

The Insidious SHARE Act Facts:

The SHARE Act would give hunting, fishing, recreational shooting, and state fish and wildlife agency goals top priority in Wilderness, rather than protecting the areas’ wilderness character, as has been the case for over 50 years.

The SHARE Act would allow endless, extensive habitat manipulations in Wilderness under the guise of “wildlife conservation” and for providing hunting, fishing, and recreational shooting experiences. The Act would also allow the construction of “temporary” roads, along with dams, buildings, or other structures, in protected Wilderness areas to facilitate such uses.

The SHARE Act would also exempt road, dam, and building projects within protected Wilderness areas from the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)—eliminating critical environmental analysis of potential impacts and alternatives, and public comment and involvement.

OMG! This is an OUTRAGE! How dare they! As if the onslaught of nightmare deregulations and blatantly cruel policies against our environment, last

remaining wild spaces and imperiled wildlife have not already been enough!

These morally corrupted and ethically bankrupted political hacks, cronies beholden to special interests and all of the other sociopaths who support these types of atrocities do not care about people or planet and must be stopped!

Several specialist sanctuaries caring for baby chimpanzees - in Liberia, Uganda and Kenya - had offered to take Nemley Jr. But when we wrote to the ministry, suggesting that he be allowed to leave - if only to lessen the burden on Abidjan zoo - a senior official refused to accept our letter. Nemley Jr was from Ivory Coast, he said, and he would stay in Ivory Coast, hinting that to move him would be neo-colonialist thinking.

So do we blame Ivory Coast for what went wrong? Maybe but then consider this: nearly half of the world's cocoa comes from Ivory Coast.Cocoa and palm oil and timber have all encroached on the country's jungles, shrinking the habitats of the chimpanzees and limiting their chances of survival.

We can condemn the rich buyer who pays for a baby chimp whose family has been slaughtered. We can criticise indolent officials. But we might also ask whether the products we're buying and eating and using might contain ingredients grown on land where dense forest was once home to chimpanzees.

Sunday, July 30, 2017

If Congress votes in favor of President Trump’s budget proposal for the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the number of free-roaming horses and burros will vastly decrease across the West. It’s an emotionally charged issue that has animal rights activists comparing wild horses to unicorns and oil, mining, and livestock companies wanting the land for their own financial gain.

Saturday, July 29, 2017

Take Action! » National Wildlife Refuge Association President Trump is planning to make good on his campaign promise to beef up our border with Mexico, and his Administration plans to break ground at the Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge in Texas. Apparently work has been ongoing on the refuge for several months, but nothing was said to the public, until information leaked late last week. The Administration has been working in secret, keeping the public in the dark about the plan to use taxpayer dollars to irreparably damage our public lands.

Thursday, July 27, 2017

Many food products have Palm Oil listed as 'vegetable oil' and in non food products there is at last count over 200 alternate names for palm oil. If an ingredient in the product you are researching has any one of the following names then it is 95% likely to be palm oil unless you know the company has a clear 'no palm oil' policy so on odd occasions these ingredients may also be derived from other sources. If the product you are checking has one of the ingredients below you may want to contact the company to find out it's derivation. Note: Palm Sugar is a different species of palm and is not palm oil. Vegetable gum is not palm oil derived.

Four Congolese park rangers and one porter have been killed in an ambush in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. A large group of journalists and park rangers were attacked on Friday 14 July in the Okapi Wildlife Reserve by an armed local rebel group. It is believed that the journalists – one from the US, two Dutch, and one Congolese – were covering a story about the work of the rangers in the forest.The attack is thought to have been by Mai Mai rebels from the area who have been carrying out illegal poaching and mining activities. They have previously come into conflict with rangers.

Following the attack, three rangers and the US national were reported missing, while the rest of the group, including 11 rangers, escaped to another Okapi reserve base.
The bodies of four Congolese rangers from the state park authority, the Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature (ICCN), and one porter were found the following day, on the evening of Saturday 15 July. They were killed during an ambush while escorting the journalists back from a visit to the Bapela gold mining site, Unesco confirmed.

Nemley junior had been seized by poachers in West Africa and offered for sale but was then rescued following a BBC News investigation. Despite dedicated care in the past few weeks, he succumbed to a series of illnesses including malaria. A leading vet who helped care for him said that, without his mother, Nemley suffered from a "failure to thrive".In the wild, baby chimps usually live with their mothers for at least four to five years.

During his capture, Nemley would have witnessed the killing of his mother during a poaching raid that would have seen as many as 10 adults in his family shot. The two men who were found guilty of his trafficking were released from jail 10 days ago.

Sarah Crawford, an American NGO worker who had been caring for Nemley full-time for the past three weeks, said: ''He died in my arms. He did not die alone in a cage. He really fought to stay alive. He was taking fluids until 30 minutes before he died. I am still in shock. None of us can quite believe what has happened.''

Nemley was 15 months old when he died. His body will be autopsied. ''This will give us useful information, which will be helpful to others caring for baby orphans,'' said Samouka Kane, director of the National Zoo of Abidjan, and a vet.

Monday, June 12, 2017

Zoo Owners Who Fed Live Donkey to Tigers Must be Punished | Animal Petitions
Angry shareholders in a Chinese zoo fed a live donkey to tigers as a way to protest a court’s decision they didn’t like. The shareholders stated that they voted in favor of this horrific act because the court froze the zoo’s assets and they were no longer receiving profits. Demand justice for this innocent donkey torn to bits by tigers.

Shocking video footage showed the men pushing the frightened donkey down into the tiger enclosure. The tigers pounced on the donkey almost immediately and mauled it for thirty minutes before it finally died. The shareholders also planned to send a sheep into the enclosure, but zoo officials stopped them in time to save the sheep.

Officials at Yancheng Safari Park issued an apology, stating that they are working on improving their safety standards. They will be holding a meeting to “calm shareholders’ nerves.”
However, this OUTRAGEOUS, horrific act of cruelty cannot go unpunished. Sign petition and demand that these shareholders face legal charges and receive the maximum penalty.

Sunday, May 21, 2017

Koalas have inhabited broad regions of Australia for the past25 million years, but the combined threats of urbanisation, climate change & land clearing are pushing populations in New South Wales & Queensland towards the edge of extinction...

Friday, May 12, 2017

Viral sea turtle Youtube video fuels campaign against plastic straws | abc7news.comAmericans use an incredible 500 million plastic straws every day. Even though they are small, straws can create serious environmental problems, so now a growing number of activists say it's time to just say no.Viral sea turtle video fuels campaign against plastic straws - A new documentary called "Straws" that debuted at the Sonoma Film Festival is getting a strong reception at other film festivals around the country. The producer and director, Linda Booker "We are talking about billions and billions of non-recyclable plastic straws that are ending up garbage cans, landfills, and unfortunately too often as street litter," she said. Many straws also end up in the ocean and on the beach.